Toilet paper is in high demand. So is this ‘toilet paper’ cake

Sunmerry Bakery announced its new “toilet paper” cake on Monday afternoon, and two hours later, it was already sold out.

Victoria Chuang, Sunmerry’s marketing specialist, and Peter Kao, Sunmerry’s owner who operates all the U.S. locations of the Taiwanese bakery, knew that their customers were missing their freshly baked breads and cakes, which are now available only in limited quantities.

Before the coronavirus crisis, Sunmerry had five locations in Southern California, including Irvine, but it had to close its Monterey Park and Arcadia stores.

While customers can order Sunmerry’s Happy Lemon boba tea drinks through Grubhub, the bakery does cake and bread deliveries to Irvine only on Saturdays, to Rowland Heights on Wednesdays, and to the rest of the San Gabriel Valley on Mondays and Thursdays.

So Chuang and Kao wanted to cheer their customers up with a new cake.

At first, they thought about making a face mask cake, but this was before the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention started recommending mask wear in the U.S.

So instead, they worked with their head chef, Bruce Dai, to design a “toilet paper” cake, a nod to the high demand for toilet paper during the coronavirus pandemic.

It’s a four-chocolate chiffon sponge cake, layered with an Oreo-filling and covered with white chocolate.

“It’s so you can send it to a friend to say that you are essential to me and that’s why I got this cake,” Chuang said. “We just wanted to lighten the mood.”

It’s available in limited quantities and for a limited time, so Chuang recommends calling the store for availability before ordering. Though it’s currently sold out, plans are to restock on Wednesday.

Sunmerry Bakery Irvine is at 14805 Jeffrey Road, Suite E. Call (949) 398-8066 or order online at sunmerryus.com/online-order, and follow the bakery on Instagram @sunmerryus for more information.